'Ugh!' I put my hands on my head and looked away from my computer at the ceiling, 'I can't do this! It's just not coming out right!'.

My wife, Eleanor, looked over sympathetically from the desk next to mine; she knew how hard I had been working. I was preparing for a TEDx talk I was scheduled to give in Flint, Michigan and although I was somewhere around version 25 of my speech, I was still dissatisfied.

I love the idea behind TED: you have 18 minutes to talk about an idea worth sharing. Lots of well-known people have given fascinating talks and I felt honored to be invited to offer mine. I also felt tremendous pressure to make it a great speech.

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http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2010/10/the-big-test-how-to-handle-per.html

Peter Bregman speaks, writes, and consults on leadership. He is the CEO of Bregman Partners, Inc., a global management consulting firm, and the author of Point B: A Short Guide To Leading a Big Change.